Antenna element to element channel estimation in a communication system with large numbers of antennas is prohibitive in terms of computational resources and communications overhead, such as in a massive multiple input multiple output (MIMO) communication system with tens or hundreds or more antennas. The amount of computation and communications required to support antenna element to element channel estimation is compounded in deployments that are highly dynamic in nature, when the channel estimation has to be performed with high frequency to meet the constantly changing environment and to accommodate dynamic traffic changes.
Therefore, there is a need for systems and methods that support communications system training that do not require excessive amounts of computational resources and communications overhead and still can achieve a same level of, or even improved, performance, such as throughput performance, for example.